The Secretary-General, Michel Jarraud, recently made official visits to a number of Member countries as briefly reported below. He wishes to place on record his gratitude to those Members for the kindness and hospitality extended to him.

by M.C. Wong and Hilda Lam An eminent psychologist, Carl Roger (as cited in Kraft, 1978), asserted: “The only learning which significantly influences behaviour is self-discovered, self-appropriated learning”. Learning cannot be imposed. It can only be acquired through participation.

Coastal inundation occurs along vulnerable coastlines. The combination of storm surges – typically from tropical cyclones or extratropical storms – and waves, with riverine flooding at various tidal states regularly leads to major loss of life. At least 2.6 million people are estimated to have drowned due to coastal inundation caused by storm surges over the last 200 years (Dilley et al., 2005).